FDA reverses stance on mercury fillings

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Tuesday announced its decision that mercury amalgam fillings—the so-called “silver” fillings most Americans have in their teeth—contain insufficient mercury to warrant concern.

“While elemental mercury has been associated with adverse health effects at high exposures, the levels released by dental amalgam fillings are not high enough to cause harm in patients,” the FDA website proclaims.

A national group called Moms Against Mercury, along with three other organizations, had sued the FDA in 2006 to have mercury fillings removed from the U.S. market. Later that year, an FDA panel of outside experts voted 13-7 against two statements put to them regarding the FDA’s position that mercury amalgam fillings were safe:

  • “Does the draft FDA White Paper objectively and clearly present the current state of knowledge about the exposure and health effects related to dental amalgam?”
  • and “Given the amount and quality of information available for the draft FDA White Paper, are the conclusions reasonable?”

    • The panel’s rejection of these statements caused quite a flurry among pro-mercury and anti-mercury forces alike. Those opposed to the use of mercury in fillings were heartened that at last the government might be listening. The American Dental Association (ADA), which has long favored the use of mercury fillings and supported the FDA’s position, was stirred to action over the possibility that mercury amalgam might finally be banned.

    According to the FDA’s website, Tuesday’s ruling was the FDA’s final word on the subject, to the disappointment of those who were hoping to have mercury banned from dental fillings because of its proven adverse health effects.

    Denmark Norway, and Sweden have banned the use of mercury amalgams. Several other countries do not allow the use of mercury fillings in young people under the age of 18.

    To see a video entitled “How Mercury Causes Brain Neuron Degeneration” produced by the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine, click here.


    You might also like:
    The Big Picture (beyond our site):

    This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 2:15 pm and is filed under FDA, News, mercury. You can follow any comments for this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

    You can leave a comment here, or a trackback from your own site.

    2 Responses to “FDA reverses stance on mercury fillings”

    1. Cori Says:
      December 22nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm

      It is interesting to note that mercury amalgam was recently reclassified as MORE risky than before, while at the same time the FDA is still basically claiming it’s safe to use.

      “On July 28, 2009, FDA issued a final rule that: (1) reclassified mercury from a class I (least risk) device to class II (more risk) device; (2) classified dental amalgam as a class II device; and (3) designated a special controls guidance document for dental amalgam.”

      http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/DentalProducts/DentalAmalgam/ucm171120.htm#ifu

    2. Bill Suydam Says:
      January 16th, 2010 at 9:23 pm

      Yes, Cori, the FDA works in mysterious ways. Thanks for pointing this out.

    Leave a Comment





    Your comment is formatted in XHTML, so you can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>